Florida: 5 Things To Know For Mar 11

Your daily look at news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today.

ALL EYES ON SPECIAL CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION IN FLORIDA

The replacement to fill the late Bill Young’s seat in Congress will be chosen after a special election in Pinellas County. Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will close at 7 p.m. The race for the 13th congressional district seat has garnered national attention and nearly $9 million in outside money. The district is considered a tossup, and ads for Democrat Alex Sink and Republican David Jolly have inundated mailboxes and airwaves in recent weeks.

BIEBER COULD GET NEW TRIAL DATE IN FLORIDA CASE

A new trial date could be set for Justin Bieber in the Florida case charging him with driving under the influence, resisting arrest and possessing an invalid driver’s license. A hearing was scheduled Tuesday for the 20-year-old pop singer, who has pleaded not guilty. A previous trial date was postponed while attorneys for news organizations and Bieber wrestled with releasing police videos of him giving a drug test urine sample.

OFFICIALS RELEASE REHABILITATED PANTHER

Wildlife officials have finally released an endangered Florida panther that was rehabilitated after a car crash. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that the panther was released in southeastern Hendry County Monday afternoon. Two scheduled releases last week had to be postponed after the young female panther eluded capture inside its 5-acre pen at the White Oak Conservation Center in Yulee.

FLORIDA GOVERNOR CAMPAIGN MUM ON $500,000 DONATION

There’s now a $500,000 mystery associated with the re-election campaign of Gov. Rick Scott. Last year, a political organization helping Scott reported receiving a $500,000 check from Florida Crystals, a leading sugar grower in the state. It was one of the largest checks that Let’s Get to Work reported receiving in 2013. But state records now no longer list the sizable donation. John French, an attorney and chairman of the group, would only say that the listing of the donation was a “mistake” and an “accounting error.”

FLORIDA DRIVER WHO KILLED HIMSELF, 4 OTHERS WAS DRUNK

An autopsy report released Monday says a man who killed four people and himself while driving the wrong way on a Florida highway had more than twice the state’s legal limit of alcohol in his system. The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s office released the report on 28-year-old Daniel Morris of Tampa. The crash happened on Interstate 275 in Tampa on Feb. 9. Morris’ SUV was going the wrong way and hit a Hyundai Sonata carrying four University of South Florida members of the fraternity Sigma Beta Rho.

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